The National Bank of Ukraine has decided to prohibit the Lithuanian company Trustee Global UAB from offering financial services via the Trustee Plus cryptocurrency wallet to Ukrainian citizens without the required license and authorization. This was reported by the NBU press service, as conveyed by Ukrinform.
"The National Bank of Ukraine has resolved to recognize the services provided by Trustee Global UAB through the Trustee Plus application as financial services that require licensing and authorization by the National Bank, and has prohibited their provision," the statement reads.
It was noted that during oversight of payment service providers, the regulator's attention was drawn to the Trustee Plus cryptocurrency wallet. Following a detailed analysis, it was established that the company provides money transfer services without account opening and executing payment transactions with users' funds.
Comments received by the NBU from Trustee Global UAB do not refute but in some cases confirm the provision of financial services by the company to Ukrainian citizens.
The company is required to immediately cease providing the prohibited services until its operations comply with Ukrainian legislation. In case of non-compliance, the company will bear responsibility under Ukrainian law.
The NBU warns citizens to be cautious when interacting with unauthorized online platforms and to verify the status of financial institutions in the regulator's registers. The regulator cannot protect the rights of consumers using services from unauthorized financial institutions.
As a reminder, the number of participants in Ukraine's non-banking financial market decreased from 799 to 791 institutions in August, while the number of banks remained unchanged at 60.